Coal mine du Gouffre, Charleroi, Belgium, April 2018

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HughieD

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1. The History
The Coal mine du Gouffre (No. 10) was the main and last colliery of the company of Charbonnages du Gouffre. It is located on the outskirts of Charleroi at Châtelet Belgium, Walloon Region in the province of Hainaut. The Coal mine was opened by Société des Charbonnages du Gouffre in 1916 and operated until its closure in 1969. In its heyday it could extract 145,000 tons of coal every year. In the 1960s, the capacity of the coal mine was reduced and by 1963 it could only extract 83,000 tons per year. It finally closed on March 31st, 1969.

41492521861_041533dc36_b.jpgCharbonnage_n°10_du_Gouffre by HughieDW, on Flickr

After its closure, several persons took turns to became the owner of the site. A zoo opened from 1979 to 1982 under the direction of Mr Heuchon. There was also a wrecking yard that left serious pollution on the site. The current concrete buildings have the same architecture (brickstone and reinforced concrete) and date back to 1934.

2. The Explore
Back on my Belgium explores. This was only one of the two many explores in Charleroi I had slated on my recent trip to Belgium that I managed to do. This one was an easy one. On the outskirts of town – it was a park up and walk in on a very sunny April morning. The place was more photographically pleasing than the explore itself. Very photogenic but effectively a hulking concrete shell with little-to-no interior detail left. Still worth the effort though.

3. The Photos

Here she comes into sight:

40779499514_a64167fa3c_b.jpgimg6594 by HughieDW, on Flickr

41492449061_744fecf652_b.jpgimg6595 by HughieDW, on Flickr

There’s a lorra concrete here…

40779493084_7448a91316_b.jpgimg6599 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But there’s a certain architectural style to it all:

27620948308_f73d2f3805_b.jpgimg6600 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39683612150_037e3b9585_b.jpgimg6601 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And the odd bit of decent graff:

26621515547_5208d0bc31_b.jpgimg6602 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40598872405_f05c9be113_b.jpgimg6610 by HughieDW, on Flickr

41492433051_20698522e4_b.jpgimg6604 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some shots suit a bit of old-school B+W:

27620940268_d4e1762cfd_b.jpgimg6606bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

27620936688_17672b4244_b.jpgimg6608bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some look better in colour:

27620939778_40986caa4a_b.jpgimg6607 by HughieDW, on Flickr

26621506877_ec0b9250c9_b.jpgimg6609 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Internally it’s just a shell:

27620925988_097a211583_b.jpgimg6612 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40598866185_f8d1be8bd5_b.jpgimg6614 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40598864485_e52306dc43_b.jpgimg6616 by HughieDW, on Flickr

40598863205_416cc7c1b9_b.jpgimg6617 by HughieDW, on Flickr

But still worth the effort:

27620919848_12c3f5d3e4_b.jpgimg6618 by HughieDW, on Flickr

39683581520_a04fa58bf9_b.jpgimg6619 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
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She'll it might be hughie but it's such a nice place with some lovely graffiti
 
Love Charleroi and the surrounding industrial area, hope there's still miles of pipes criss-crossing the roads???:excitement:

Good to see a historic pic, really adds to your report to see how the place looked when it was in use. You caught some lovely morning light adding some warmth to the brickwork, very nice HD!
 
Great spot man, exterior looks awesome. I like that graffiti with the guy pulling apart the wall
 
Nice shots, it is just a shell but the Jamie Hewlett graf character from Gorillaz makes up for it. :)
 

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